The Brotherhood of Mutants, originally known as the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, is a team of mutants that has had several leaders and lineups over the years. The original team was devoted to mutant superiority over normal humans and was one of the chief adversaries of the X-Men.

The group's roster and ideology have varied from incarnation to incarnation, ranging from world domination to serving as a terrorist group that targets anti-mutant public figures. They are almost always at odds with the more peaceful X-Men, though on rare occasions the two sides have allied against a common threat.

The Brotherhood was founded by Magneto and its members were his primary allies in his early battles with the X-Men. The original Brotherhood ultimately disbanded, with Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch going on to become members of the Avengers.

Ideology

While later incarnations of the Brotherhood promoted the group's existence as a political and ideological rival to Professor Charles Xavier's dream of peace with humans, the group was originally conceived as simply a small, but powerful army of minions gathered by Magneto to aid in his schemes for world domination. But since the group's second incarnation, the group has become a much more politically motivated group designed for use of violence to provide justice and lead the so-called 'mutant revolution' against mankind.

Fictional team history

Magneto's Brotherhood

The original leader of the team was Magneto. The other members of the original team were Quicksilver, his twin sister, the Scarlet Witch, the Toad, and Mastermind. Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are Magneto's children, although at the time of the original Brotherhood all three of them were unaware of it. They had joined after Magneto saved Wanda from a mob who believed she was a Witch after she accidentally made a house burst into flame. She joined to repay the debt, and Pietro joined to keep her safe. Time and again, the Brotherhood clashed with the original X-Men team. Finally Magneto and Toad were captured by an extraterrestrial being called the Stranger, who they at first believed was a powerful mutant, but he revealed himself to be an alien. Mastermind had been turned to a block of solid matter by the Stranger, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch left the team and later joined the Avengers. Later, back on Earth, Magneto reorganized the team three times, including such mutants as the Blob and Unus the Untouchable, and creating a team that was later alternately called Mutant Force and the Resistants.

Mystique's Brotherhood

The shapeshifting mutant terrorist Mystique later organized her own Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Members included Pyro, the Blob, Avalanche, Destiny and Rogue. This team (minus Rogue, who had defected to the X-Men) later became the core membership of the government-sponsored team called Freedom Force. As Freedom Force, their membership briefly included Spiral and the second Spider-Woman, and later included Super Sabre, the Crimson Commando, and Stonewall. This group both fought and teamed up with several heroic groups, including the Avengers, but ultimately disbanded after Destiny, Super Sabre and Stonewall were killed in action, Mystique faked her death, the Crimson Commando was crippled and the Blob and Pyro were abandoned on a mission in Iraq.

Other Brotherhoods

Other versions of the Brotherhood of Mutants included one organized by Toad, one lead by a brainwashed Havok, one organized by Professor X, several organized by Mystique, one formed by Xorn, another formed by Exodus, one lead by Sunspot, a “Sisterhood” created by the Red Queen, one organized by Joseph, and even one created by Daken.

Mystique’s New Brotherhood

More recently, Mystique has re-formed the Brotherhood of Mutants with several former members, including the Blob, Avalanche, Burner, the Toad, and Sabretooth. This version of the Brotherhood supported Mystique after she broke into Xavier’s school in an attempt to force a telepath into using Cerebro to find Magneto’s location (who was in hiding). Mystique later recruits a mutant that can sense other mutants called Probe and a graduate of Xavier’s school called Discord. Mystique directs Discord into tricking the school’s omega-level mutant, Blur, into a trap. They kidnap Blur at a New York City nightclub. Before they can escape with him, they are confronted by the Travelers and put into a time-coma. Following the defeat of Victorious in the future and the end of the Travelers, the Brotherhood is freed.

Later Mystique takes leadership of a new west coast mutant school called Academy M. She is supported by a new roster of the Brotherhood of Mutants: Discord, Pyro (somehow resurrected), Switch, Quill, Leech, Cordelia Frost, and Feral. After the collapse of Academy M following Jacob Robitaille’s Purifier attack, Mystique re-forms the previous Brotherhood of Mutants (the Blob, Avalanche, Burner, the Road, Sabretooth, and Probe) to help defeat Selene during the Necrosha event.